Descrizione del progetto
Trattare la perdita dell’udito mediante approcci di terapia genica
Milioni di persone in tutto il mondo sono affette da perdita dell’udito a causa di invecchiamento, cause congenite o esposizione prolungata a rumori forti. Il progetto iHEAR, finanziato dall’UE, sta lavorando a un approccio di terapia genica per trattare la perdita dell’udito. Il progetto prevede un approfondimento volto a trovare il miglior vettore per trasferire i geni terapeutici nelle cellule responsabili della perdita d’udito neurale sensoriale, le cellule ciliate dell’orecchio interno e i neuroni del ganglio spirale. I ricercatori impiegheranno cellule di pazienti affetti da perdita dell’udito come modello per testare la terapia genica e le strategie di editing genetico. Nel complesso, il progetto iHEAR farà progredire gli attuali strumenti disponibili per lo studio e il trattamento della perdita dell’udito.
Obiettivo
To address the substantial financial and social burden caused by hearing loss in 360 million people world-wide, I aim to improve hearing via gene therapy to correct inherited and protect from acquired hearing loss. In vitro experiments will establish the best vector configurations for transfer of therapeutic genes and miRNAs into inner ear hair cells (HC) and spiral ganglion neurons (SGN). The efficiency of the best-performing vector designs will then be explored in vivo using fluorescent marker proteins. Cell-type specific and inducible promoters as well as receptor-targeted vectors will be employed as a safety measure and to ensure transgene expression in HC and SGN target cells. Once efficient transduction of appropriate target cells and proper expression of therapeutic proteins are demonstrated, I will perform proof-of-concept studies in hearing loss models, incl. established mouse models, to correct (WP1) or protect (WP2) from impaired hearing. To ensure translatability of these findings, I will generate human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) from patients with hearing loss (WP3), so that I can test optimized constructs in human otic cells. Moreover, I have access to a collection of well-characterized samples from over 600 hearing loss patients, including children with congenital hearing loss in whom many novel monogenetic alterations were identified. These resources provide the unique opportunity to generate a novel toolbox for the treatment of hearing loss. In addition to lentiviral and adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector delivery of corrective or protective genes to treat hearing loss, I will apply state-of-the-art genome editing tools to model and correct mutations causative for hearing loss in cell lines, primary cells from murine models, human patients and patient-derived iPSC. This work will contribute to development of clinically translatable approaches for precision medicine strategies to improve hearing loss treatment.
Campo scientifico
- medical and health sciencesmedical biotechnologygenetic engineeringgene therapy
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteins
- medical and health sciencesmedical biotechnologycells technologiesstem cells
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsmutation
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencespersonalized medicine
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantIstituzione ospitante
30625 Hannover
Germania